Explore virtual trails while putting math and geography skills to the test with Math Trail (powered by Google Maps). An introductory video on the site's home page explains the concept and how to play. An email id is required to get started. Choose from nine different trails with difficulty levels from low to high. Begin with the first set of instructions provided. Win gold coins along the way by completing math challenges. The introduction video is hosted by YouTube. If YouTube is blocked at your school, you could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid reviewed here to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Math Trail would make an excellent game for use during math centers or as a computer lab/laptop activity. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here. After playing, have students create their own math trail using Animaps (reviewed here). Students can add text, images, and location stops!

Learn about basic money tools, entrepreneurship, and other financial matters with Hands On Banking. Courses are provided for kids through adults with topics such as using credit, budgeting, and smart investing. The interactives (especially for the younger ages) are highly engaging. In addition to the online activities, instructor guides are available for PDF download for all age ranges. Courses are also available for use on mobile devices.

In the Classroom

Create a link to the course for your students on classroom computers or view together on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from this site using a tool such as Wordle (reviewed here), Tagxedo (reviewed here), or WordItOut (reviewed here). This is a great tool to share with families (for both student or parent use). Share this site on your class wiki, blog, or website.

Scroll visually through the past 100 years of fishing history with this interactive tool. As you move through the years, you see the numbers of big predatory fish and small prey fish as they vanish or multiply. The swimming fish change in numbers, and the percent change is shown below as the slider is moved. Click on the information icon ("i") for more information about the data.

In the Classroom

Though a simple resource, this interactive can open up discussions into ecosystems, ocean resources, and environmental problems. Display on an Interactive Whiteboard (or projector) for the class to view together. Allow students the opportunity to manipulate the slider and view the data. Brainstorm possible reasons for the sudden loss in big fish during one decade. Students can focus on policy, lifestyles of various cultures, or environmental problems. Research the various fish that have been lost to overfishing, and assign students a specific group of fish to explore. Create a display online or in the classroom to share their information. Have students share what they have learned by creating personalized images (with text) using Pinwords reviewed here. Use the information about the species researched to determine the other members of the food chain.

Learn about the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island! This site, by an authorized concessioner to the National Park Service, offers videos, timelines, and statistics of this endearing American icon. Choose What to Expect to plan a visit, learn about security guidelines, and changes throughout the years. The Games for Kids portion includes several coloring and word search activities for easy printing. There is also a Museum Store with items for purchase, encourage students to stay OFF of that link.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Include this site with other links to information about the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island during an immigration or American symbols unit. Have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Capzles (reviewed here) using information found on this site and others.

Rewordify helps you understand what you read. Paste any text or website into the box to rewordify the text into simpler language. Easier to understand words replace difficult text shown with highlighting. Click on the highlighting to view the original, more difficult word(s). View excellent student and teacher demonstrations showing how to use the website. You have the option to choose how Rewordify displays the results using the options in the settings. Several options allow for easy personalization of results.

In the Classroom

This site is a must for saving and bookmarking for classroom use! Start the school year out by posting the link to Rewordify on your class website for student and parent access from home. Be sure to share with learning support and ESL/ELL teachers and students. Be sure to share a link on your classroom website and parent newsletter for use at home. Save a link to Rewordify on classroom computers for students to easily paste text from any website to read in a simpler format. Copy and paste any difficult text into Rewordify and display on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to enhance student understanding or show meaning in complex texts. Have students guess meanings from context clues in the more complex version, then share the "rewordified" view to test their guesses. Have students create a word cloud of difficult words identified using a tool such as Wordle (reviewed here), Tagxedo (reviewed here), or WordItOut (reviewed here). Have students take a screen shot of passages that have been "rewordified" to share and discuss.

Take a virtual tour of eleven Manhattan buildings, and discover their importance to the development of nuclear weaponry during the twentieth century. Much of the political tension in today's international relations can be traced to concerns about the potential use of nuclear weapons. Who has the power to make nuclear weapons? Who can be trusted with this power? What would be the impact of using nuclear weapons globally? This site adds important historical perspective to the history of nuclear weapons with its examination of the Manhattan Project. The site features the many locations within the Borough of Manhattan, New York in which critical components of the Project were developed. See the buildings as they were and as they are now, and meet some of the central participants of the Manhattan Project. An interactive timeline featuring images, documents, audio recordings and maps can help put the history of the Project into the context of twentieth century history. Finally, a brief history of the Project helps flesh out the previous two components of this site.

In the Classroom

The importance of the Manhattan Project to modern global history can hardly be underestimated. Use the interactive timeline to help place the development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons into the context of modern politics, and to deepen understanding of the US role in the end of World War II.
Consider the current debate about privacy, secrecy and security by comparing today's issues with the Manhattan Project. How could such a large scale, national effort have been kept so secret? Ask students to take different perspectives: How would modern history been different had the Manhattan Project NOT been secret? SHOULD it have been kept from the US public? Are today's issues of privacy and security different? A group of students might research other US and international sites that were important to the Manhattan Project and create a national "tour" or map of these sites to complement the Manhattan map available on this site. Have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Edge tools reviewed here. This site could also inspire a terrific research project for National History Day or a unit of study in a gifted class.

Use web-mapping applications to display, explore, and search different bombing locations across London during the Blitz from July 10, 1940 through June 6, 1941. Click on any icon on the map to view the type of bomb, date recorded, and view images taken nearby during that time period. Zoom in and out. Many icons also include links to people's stories relating to the area during the time of the bombings. Choose the Explore London option to select particular areas of London with additional information about bombing activity in that area.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

This site is perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard or projector during any World War 2 unit to visually display the impact of the Blitz on London. Make the Blitz more "real" to your students by sharing the stories and images as first person narratives (primary sources). Have students use Fakebook (reviewed here) to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a resident of London during the time period. This would be a great way to help students understand why Britain came together so strongly during WWII, an experience that most students today cannot relate to.

Looking for some on-demand media to support classroom instruction? The media at this site includes both video and audio clips. Explore the site using links to video, audio, or by SOL (Standards of Learning). Although the site is correlated to Virginia Standards of Learning, material is appropriate for any classroom situation. Within the SOL section, search by grade level and curriculum content to find material.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site as a resource for video and audio clips to support classroom content. Share links to videos on your classroom website for students to view at home. Display videos on your interactive whiteboard to supplement current classroom instruction. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own instruction videos to share with the class about a topic that you are learning in class. Share the videos using a tool such as SchoolTube reviewed here.

Turn meaningful words into beautiful images in just seconds using Quozio. Paste or type your quote into the quote box or use the site's bookmarklet to highlight text from the web to use as your quote. Enter who said it. Scroll through background images available to use with your quote. When finished, share via Pinterest, Facebook, or email. You can also RIGHT click the image to SAVE image as and download a copy to your computer for printing or use elsewhere. Register on Quozio using your email to save quotes directly on the Quozio site.

In the Classroom

Use Quozio to create a beautiful image to begin a unit. Start with an interesting quote or comment. View the finished picture on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) as a starting point for the unit. Make a bulletin board of quote images as writing prompts or verbal snapshots of an era, an author, or a famous person. Have older students be responsible for creating a Quozio image each week with a quote of the week or interesting comment on events that occur in class. Have students choose one interesting quote or piece of information from any text to create a Quozio then have students explain their choice as part of a class presentation.

Create matching and multiple choice quizzes. Register on the site using email to begin. Choose "manage quizzes" to create your first quiz. Provide a name, description, and begin adding quiz questions and answer options. Save and preview as often as desired until satisfied with the quiz. Quizdini supports HTML, so adding links to outside content within quizzes will make each quiz unique. Share completed quizzes using the URL in your browser bar displaying the finished quiz.

In the Classroom

Use this site to create online quizzes. Create a quiz as a review to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector for pre or post assessment of units. Have students take the quiz independently or in cooperative learning groups. Pretest your gifted students and allow them to "test out" of material they already know. In younger classrooms, use a whole class account to make quizzes together. Older students can create their own quizzes to use for review, as a peer challenge, or as a final project. Suggest that students create quizzes as followup for their listeners after a class presentation. Provide a link to quizzes on your class website. Use the online clock in the matching game as motivation for students to play and improve response time with correct answers.

NewsAction shares student-created news stories from around the world. Scroll down the page to view recent stories or browse to recent or popular stories and videos. Have your own story to add? Sign up (requires email), choose your region, and scroll down to find your dashboard. Create posts and polls and upload images or video using the Word Press software. Since this is student-created, you may want to preview before you share with your class.

In the Classroom

View articles posted on the site together on your interactive whiteboard or projector to use as discussion starters or to view examples of student writing. These are student written informational texts perfect for close reading or for instruction about writing skills. Have students create their own articles to share on your class website. Have students create blogs using Throwww (reviewed here). This site allows you to create "quick and easy" blogs to be used one time only. There is no registration necessary! Create a class account on NewsAction to post stories, videos, and images from your classroom. If your school policies permit, you may want students over 13 to each create their own accounts.

Find books about how our U.S. government works and how to take part in that process. These books include topics such as with what it means to be a citizen, how our government works, and the tough decisions that people make -- both citizens and those who work in government. Discover civics-related topics such as voting, creating laws, enforcing laws, and the underlying principles of democracy. The collection includes both true and fictional tales about communities and government and books for all grade levels. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles''''® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. For more on text complexity and Lexiles''''®, see this information from the Lexile Framework. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!

Share TeachersFirst's weekly Features SItes automatically on your teacher blog or school web page. If you can copy/paste and use embed codes, you can choose from two formats to show the current Featured Sites on your teacher blog, ed tech coaching page, or resource page for preservice teachers. The widget automatically updates your page with new content every week. Note that use of these widgets is limited to educators and is not allowed on fee-based or commercial sites. Once you place the widget on your page, it automatically updates with the new sites each week -- with no work by you! Share the reviewed resources you trust with your colleagues, parents, and students. Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers!

In the Classroom

If you know how to use embed codes, use this widget to offer trusted, weekly new content on your web page. If you do not know how to embed, ask one of your tech-savvy students or colleagues. It isn't hard at all! Be sure to tell you edtech coach or instructional technology specialist and library/media specialist about this great, free service.

The Washington Post offers this interesting variety of maps illustrating many different viewpoints and realities around the world. Topics include best and worst place to be born, child poverty in the developed world, and the world seen from space over a 12 month time-lapse. Click to enlarge any of the maps. Several include links for further information.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site for use with many social studies, reading, and higher level thinking topics. Use them to teach about interpreting graphical information in texts. Display on your interactive whiteboard and explore with your students. Use these maps to ask deep questions about meaning in maps. What inferences/conclusions can you draw based on this map? These maps are a perfect starting point for research projects on many subjects. Have students brainstorm questions they wonder about or collect ideas for possible projects on a collaborative bulletin board like Scrumblr, reviewed here (quick start- no membership required!).

Twiddla is an online meeting space and collaboration tool that is like having a whiteboard skin placed over any website or image so you can draw and more. Discover options available in the practice area named the Sandbox. Choose options for collaboration such as a url, uploaded image or document, or collaborate together on a blank screen. Use the Invite button to share the collaboration url via email or copy/paste. Take a snapshot of your session at any time and export as an image. Pro Accounts offer additional features, such as screen captures and password protection. Receive these services free as an educator, find the directions in the FAQ.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Twiddla to explore and save information from any website. Display any website on your interactive whiteboard using Twiddla. Add text, highlight information, and mark up the site as you wish. Take a screenshot and add to your classroom webpage for students to view at home for review. Have a flipped classroom? Create a lesson from any image, document, or website using Twiddla then share the image for student use. Art teachers can have students annotate a web-based image to emphasize design elements. Teach notetaking by having students mark up important ideas on a web page (perhaps evidence found in informational texts?) Hold an online conference with students about their web-based projects using Twiddla. Use Twiddla with your bring your own device (byod) classroom or in the computer lab to highlight and share information from documents, images, and websites.

Broadcast live to the Internet from any phone to create a phlog (live voice-blog) using ipadio. Register on the site with the phone number desired. Then call one of the local numbers provided by ipadio. After the welcome message, enter your pin number and start recording for up to 60 minutes. Disconnect using the # button on your phone, and your phlog is complete! Once complete, login to your ipadio account to view the broadcast and find the embed code for sharing on your website. Ipadio has both iOS and Android apps, both free at the time of this review.

In the Classroom

One interesting option available with ipadio is the ability for other users to call in with your account. Have students call in with answers to homework using your channel. View how to do this at the help section located in ipadio. If you already do podcasts, use ipadio in a similar manner to share course content or describe step by step procedures for math problems, etc. Create a weekly phlog to embed in your class websites with a summary of the week's activities. Do this during class and allow students to add to the summary. Have BYOD? Create a class phlog and assign rotating student groups to make audio summaries/review podcasts of class content. Invite them to be creative by developing characters and their own creative podcast format. Library/media specialists can invite students to create ipadio book reviews. World language teachers can assign students to create ipadio podcasts of dialogs or cultural topics to build spoken language skills.

Making the Common Core Come Alive provides many resources for implementing and teaching Common Core Standards. Scroll through this page to find templates for designing units, a self inventory of understanding of the standards, curriculum templates, and much more. Download one of several units such as 1st Grade persuasive writing, middle school force and motion, or high school comparing and contrasting plant and animal cells. Each resource includes a short description along with a link to a PDF or Word document for your use.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the free resources including the templates for developing Common Core lessons. Share this site during professional development sessions. Use the templates for lesson and unit planning.

Diamonds are forever and so are diamante poems created on this free site. This is a great tool to shape up your poets through the structure of a 7 lined diamante poem. Learn about the diamond-shaped poems that use specific types of words for each line. Rhyming isn't needed, but needn't be impeded. Describe a central topic or two opposing topics like night and day. View the examples before creating your poem. Each screen provides an organizer for any poet to complete. Click on the parts of speech for definitions while composing poems. Edit your poem, if needed, before printing, downloading it as a PDF, or sharing through email. Save your draft to continue at a later date. This site is a must during poetry month in April.

In the Classroom

Diamante poems are a fun format to write about a single topic or to compare/contrast two topics. Review parts of speech and then apply these concepts with writing diamante poems. Work the idea of cause and effect into the diamante poem format for a challenging activity with your poets. Provide students with diamante poems with a few words missing and have them fill in the blanks to complete the poem. Compare or contrast text passages for any subject area or use the diamante format to summarize a selection. Provide your students with images, and have them write diamante poems about the images. Make homemade greeting cards with your students to give using this format of poetry or write "about me" poems using this tool at the start of school.

Metta is a multimedia presentation tool that allows you to combine videos, pictures, and text to create short movies. Create an account using your email address or Facebook to begin. Start with a title, choose to build a story from scratch or an RSS feed, and click create. Follow prompts to drag images from your computer or insert video URLs. Add new chapters (slides) and reorder as desired. Trim video clips using the tools provided with the editor. Add text or record audio using your computer's microphone in any chapter. Save and publish when finished. Share using the URL provided or embed code.

In the Classroom

Use to create educational videos and projects to introduce and interest students in a topic. Use to generate questions prior to the discussion of topics. Create a multi-image slideshow where students brainstorm how the images are all connected. Have students create projects for class using Metta. Be sure to include this tool on your blog, wiki, or public page for easy student access. You may want to consider allowing your older students to create their own accounts, depending on school policies. Read tips for safely managing email registrations here. Upload pictures and videos once a month to share through your classroom website or blog, or allow a group of students to create each month's review. Create a project site for students to upload images and videos found when studying any subject. Upload images with squares, triangles, rectangles, etc. when learning about shapes. Upload pictures of plants for a science unit, etc. Have students upload family pictures when learning about families. World language students can create digital photo stories to narrate using new vocabulary. Present teacher professional development or an end of year display for the school media center. Have other staff members upload images and videos from the year of school activities.

Create a sketch on a virtual whiteboard, share it, and have recipients mark it up and share it back. This tool describes itself as a "web whiteboard for schools." Click Demo to try the tools. Create your own account, and add a list of students. Students log in using your class code and a password. Share finished sketches using the share feature for others to view, sketch, and reply. Embed sketches to your website using code provided or share via Twitter. Sketchlot is a device-agnostic tool, designed to work on all current tablets, phones and computers. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions may vary slightly. Note that the tools in Sketchlot are drawing only: lines, rectangles, and freeform drawing, but no text typing! Anything you can depict as a diagram with free-form writing can be a Sketchlot. (It may be easier to draw on a tablet than on a computer.) Make it easer to write with your finger by zooming in or out.

In the Classroom

If you are one of the lucky ones with a classroom set of mobile devices, this site is an excellent resource for you! Use Sketchlot to write and share math problems for students to view, complete, then send back to you. Create diagrams for student viewing. Have students label items, then return. Create a simple diagram of a structure and have students label forces acting on that structure. Hand the main page over to a student on your interactive whiteboard during a presentation, then share with the rest of the class to add reviews and additional information. Send differentiated tasks to your gifted students by starting a partially completed diagram (a valley where they need to build a bridge) and having them investigate, complete the diagram, and add details. They can, in turn, pass back challenges for classmates (or you) to solve.